some degree, you know, there was pretty good quarterback play in this game. but still, across the league yesterday, it s one of the reasons why i rail against a 17-game schedule. yeah. and why i wrote in my column today, you know, i m going to rail even more if they try to make an 18-game schedule. peter, they were fumbling, so many interceptions. they were exhausted. you could see it. you looked at the cincinnati ravens game, which would have been a highlight of the season, you know, a couple of months ago, without lamar there and all the injuries, that was a miserable game. it was an ugly, ugly, terrible game, and the cowboys, i promise, i m going to get positive soon, but i m going to get positive about the detroit lions. there was so much screaming over the weekend. but first, let s talk about the cowboys. what is wrong with that? they ve got the quarterback.
they just are stumbling into the playoffs. what s wrong with the cowboys? i think dak prescott, you know, first of all he s running around a lot. running for his life. he has not gotten protected the way he has in past years. that s number one. and i think number two, you know, they went into a game yesterday, they weren t even sure what they were going to play for, and that s what i think one of the problems here, joe, is, the mixed motivations of players in week 18 of the nfl season. because really, if you re the dallas cowboys, you ve got a 5% chance of winning home field advantage through the playoffs and overtaking, you know, and moving up in the pecking order so you get a better seed, and, you know, players are saying what are we doing? why are we, you know, extending
with the bills returning to the field for the first time since damar hamlin s collapse. good morning, and welcome to morning joe. it is monday, january 9th, good to have you with us. also with us, we have former chairman of the republican national committee, michael steele, u.s. special correspondent for bbc news, katty kay, the host of way too early, white house bureau chief at politico, jonathan lemire, and former cia officer, marc polymeropoulos. he s an nbc news security and intelligence analyst. and jonathan lemire, we re going to get to the nfl in a little bit. we re going to talk about the patriots not making the playoffs. didn t really deserve it, though. they looked good for a while. mac looked good for a little while. we ll also talk about perhaps the worst game played in the history of the nfl. we speak of course of the dolphins and the jets. it was a truly, miserable, horrible game, and it is shocking. it shocks the conscience of
we re underway as new england decided to defer after winning the toss. on the run back, breaking a tackle and taking it past midfield and down the sideline he goes. this is storybook, an opening kickoff return for damar hamlin, and this place is absolutely going wild. come on, no way. unbelievable. buffalo bills safety damar hamlin, his teammate, nyheim hines took the opening kick kickoff, 96 yards, scoring on a 101 yard return to have the first bills player to have two in the same game, wrapping up an emotional 35-23 win over the pats. it s a good thing he ran both back. it was the difference maker in the game. locked up the number two seed, and knocked new england out of playoff contention. it was a shock, actually, after
season. next week s slate of games is okay. once we get through next week, it should be really good and i think it s going to be whatever qb, you know, whether it s one of the all stars or a cinderella story steps up at the right time. i think it s important, though, to take note, what peter king said. 17 games. these guys are brutalized and you could see it yesterday, so many mistakes. i think they were mentally, emotionally, and physically just battered. they can t go to 18 games. it would be horrible. well, speaking of football, the college football playoff national championships is going to be decided tonight at sofi stadium in los angeles. the top rated georgia bulldogs are going to try to go back-to-back against the third seated tcu horn frogs, kickoff tonight at 7:30. i would say there s no way that tcu could win but i have been saying that all year. so i won t say anything and expect a great game. all right. coming up, we ll have a look at